No more new licenses for health programs in colleges

ARAB NEWS|Published — Monday 15 August 2016

JEDDAH:

Minister of Education Ahmad Al-Issa issued a ruling suspending issuance of new licenses for health programs in private universities and colleges, citing the need to develop and modernize the licensing mechanism.

The decision is valid for two years, during which a scientific committee will be formed by the Education Ministry to evaluate the situation of health programs and demand for them in the labor market. If it is found that there exists demand for such programs, they will be licensed again.Inspections in the field uncovered academic flaws in the performance of these universities’ health programs.Five universities and colleges that offer programs in a number of health disciplines were warned to correct the situation within four months or they will be closed down.Chairman of the Board of Trustees and President of the Batterjee Medical College, Sobhi Batterjee, stressed that “the minister of education knows more about the situation in this field and knows about the public interest. His decision must have been issued because of information that not many know and I have no doubt about his decision. But I wonder how the goals of Vision 2030 or NTP 2020 could be achieved if no new licenses for health colleges are granted.”A member of the Education and Scientific Research Committee in the Shoura Council, Ahmad bin Saad Al-Mefreh, said that the temporary suspension is needed to study the situation of health programs to ensure quality is not compromised, pointing out that the Kingdom is suffering because of the weak performance of some these universities and colleges.He told a local publication: “I hope that the ministry reviews the health programs and, more importantly medical programs in some public universities, because we want quality not quantity.”Al-Mefreh suggested reducing the number of medical faculties to five and providing the world's best equipment and laboratories to support doctors and improve their efficiency.